Continuing Education Courses
The CRC® certification carries an obligation of continuing education to help Certificants maintain current understanding and knowledge of relevant retirement planning topics. Like many other professional certifications and licenses, an annual continuing education requirement assures a Certificant’s commitment to life-long learning.
InFRE has many courses available for purchase to help you meet the annual CE requirements. To learn more about each course click on the course description or to purchase, click the add to cart button.
Course Specifications:
Other than CRC® study guides, all courses are PDF download. Passing an online quiz is required to earn the indicated CE credit hours.
2.00 - 2.50 Continuing Education Hours
The following courses are approved for 2.00 and 2.50 hours of CRC® CE credit by the International Foundation for Retirement Education Board of Standards as meeting CRC® annual continuing education requirements.
Learn practical tips for assuring that the budgeting you do with clients is a useful process for better financial planning.
$35.00
This course looks at how budgets can be used for better financial planning. It discusses how to use personal financial statements (balance sheet, income statement and cash flow statement) in the budgeting process. It also presents the details of setting up, monitoring, and evaluating a budget. The course provides practical tips for assuring that budgeting is a useful process, and not an empty exercise!
Everyone who designs, delivers, or has the ultimate responsibility for communications campaigns will benefit from this course.
$35.00
Plan sponsors have an obligation to communicate to participants how they will be affected when any change to a retirement plan occurs. Communicating such change is not always easy and presents challenges to sponsors.
This course presents a 5-step process to follow to be sure the communication/education program is effective and successful. It looks at the issues that change presents, such as resistance to change and rumors. It covers areas such as the importance of establishing trust among the participants; developing the communication campaign using research and planning; understanding the target audience; and training and equipping the personnel who deal directly with participants. Anyone who designs, delivers, or has ultimate responsibility for communications campaigns will benefit from this course.
What are the tools you need to analyze the employee population for effective program design?
$35.00
This course examines the factors to consider when designing an education program, such as who the stakeholders are, and the makeup of the intended audience. Readers are guided through the Four Stages of Learning so as to identify existing levels of financial literacy. This course provides the tools for analyzing the employee population for effective program design.
This course presents the fundamentals of Individual Retirement Accounts.
$35.00
The course covers the basic features of both traditional and Roth IRAs, including contribution limits and excess contributions; investment options and prohibited transactions; deduction limits for active participants of employer-sponsored plans; spousal IRAs; Roth conversions; and Deemed IRAs.
This course presents the advantages and disadvantages of different types of credit. Learning early how to manage credit wisely is an important part of building a sound financial base.
$35.00
This course is designed to show the types of credit, when credit use is appropriate, how different types of credit work, and give strategies that an employee can use to reduce and manage his or her overall debt. It examines how to assess whether an individual has too much debt, and the steps individuals can take to reduce their debt burden. The course also looks at the cost of credit.
3.50 Continuing Education Hours
This course provides a thorough overview of 401(k) plans and their features.
$50.00
Topics include: who may adopt a 401(k) plan; the 4 types of contributions that can be made to a 401(k) plan; contribution limits and employer deduction limits; salary reduction agreements; negative elections and 5 issues sponsors must consider when using negative elections; the two nondiscrimination tests specific to 401(k) plans; investments and ERISA 404(c); loans and hardship withdrawals. Students who complete this course will gain a solid understanding of these plans.
Learn the fundamental concepts and techniques for effective communication and counseling.
$50.00
This course presents fundamental concepts and techniques for effective communication and counseling. Readers will learn about good listening skills, the impact of non-verbal communication, gender differences in communication, and techniques to use in crisis situations. The course also delves into learning styles and money personalities. Numerous examples are presented of how these concepts and techniques can be applied in the work environment. The course takes an application-oriented approach to presenting this material.
This course provides an in-depth view of defined benefit plans.
$50.00
In addition to the structure and features, this course also presents important factors employers should be aware of when considering a defined benefit plan. Deferred retirement option plans (DROP) are also covered in this course.
This course takes a close look at the different media that can be used for participant education.
$50.00
This course takes a close look at the different media that can be used for participant education. It presents the advantages and disadvantages of print materials, audio-visuals, seminars, workshops, one-on-one counseling, and technology. The course also explores communications strategy considerations such as budgeting and the use of consultants and third party providers. The education safe harbor under ERISA 404(c) is covered thoroughly, with a special section on education vs. advice. This course is a practical guide for anyone involved in employee financial education.
5.00 Continuing Education Hours
This course is designed to help plan sponsors make an informed decision about providing retirement planning and/or investment advice to retirement plan participants.
$65.00
The issue of providing retirement planning and/or investment advice to retirement plan participants has been getting more and more attention. Many are of the opinion that workers are in need of something more than general financial education to help them prepare for a secure retirement, and employer-provided advice could be the answer.
This course examines the issues plan sponsors should consider when contemplating whether or not to offer advice to participants. It tracks the recent trend in the workplace, and the history of advice from the legislative standpoint. The course also provides important information about how to assess the different ways to deliver advice, and which methods are appropriate for the participant population. A discussion on how adults learn and receive messages helps clarify why some methods of delivering advice may be more effective than others.
InFRE does not take a position on whether or not to offer advice in the workplace. This course is designed to help plan sponsors make an informed decision about whether or not to provide this service to participants.
This course presents the design features of the retirement plans available to the government employer.
$65.00
This course presents the design features of the retirement plans available to the government employer. It includes discussion of Section 457, 403(b), and Federal Thrift Savings plans.
This course is an overview/survey course covering defined benefit and defined contribution plans.
$65.00
This course is an overview/survey course covering defined benefit and defined contribution plans. It also addresses the differences between private and public sector retirement planning.
This course covers the special legal and regulatory environment of qualified plans.
$65.00
Qualified retirement plans must comply with special rules in order to receive certain tax advantages. This course covers the legal and regulatory environment of qualified plans; plan qualification rules and tax advantages; and the minimum standards under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) that qualified plans must adhere to.
The course includes discussion of fiduciary responsibility; reporting and disclosure requirements; minimum coverage and participation requirements and tests; eligibility; vesting; funding and accrual; top heavy plan rules; and survivorship requirements. Useful tables containing plan limits for current and future years are provided.
CRC® Study Guides for Continuing Education Hours
Use your CRC® study guides for FREE continuing education (CE) credit! CRC® study guides 1 – 4 are approved for 7.50 hours and CRC® study guide 5 is approved for 3.50 hours of CRC® CE. Click on Add to Cart button to order your free CE quiz.
CRC® Certificants may not apply CRC® study guides toward CE credit for their first CRC® renewal period after becoming certified and may not submit the same quiz for two consecutive CRC® renewal periods. Study guides older than five years must be repurchased to receive CE credit.
Establishes the foundation for the CRC® study guide series by providing techniques for understanding the broad variety of factors that can affect a client’s/plan participant’s retirement goals.
CRC® 1 establishes the foundation for the CRC® study guide series by providing techniques for understanding the broad variety of factors that can affect a client’s/plan participant’s retirement goals. The course features methods for motivating and educating clients/plan participants on the need to save for retirement, and the importance of taking personal responsibility for their own financial futures. By taking a close look at how to plan for retirement at different career stages, there is an emphasis on how the basic tools of financial planning can be used to best prepare for retirement.
Topics included in this study guide include:
- Retirement planning life cycles
- Retirement readiness for both financial and non-financial issues
- Retirement mindsets and behavioral finance
- Financial goal setting
- Risk management
- Medicare
- Tax and estate planning strategies
- Elder care
- Financial elder abuse
Provides a comprehensive review of investment products and presents investment concepts that are critical to effective retirement counseling.
CRC® 2 provides a comprehensive review of investment products and presents investment concepts that are critical to effective retirement counseling. After completing this course, you will be able to better assist clients/plan participants by having a solid understanding of basic investment terminology and feeling more comfortable with the investment decisions that must be made to achieve a financially secure retirement.
Topics included in this study guide include:
- Common and preferred stock
- Bonds
- Short-term instruments
- Mutual funds
- Guaranteed investment contracts
- Stable value funds
- Annuities
- Combination products
- Reverse mortgages
- Managing risk through diversification
- Asset allocation and portfolio management
- The important aspects of time horizon and goal-appropriate investing
Covers concepts needed to guide your clients/plan participants in maximizing assets within different types of retirement plans and understanding Social Security benefits.
CRC® 3 covers concepts needed to guide your clients/plan participants in maximizing assets within different types of retirement plans and understanding Social Security benefits. Clients/plan participants have distinctive retirement planning needs and there is no one-size-fits-all retirement plan that works for everyone. This course addresses important retirement plan concepts and features that will help you counsel them in determining what combination of retirement plans are likely to be best for their unique needs. It will also help you translate the complex and often confusing retirement plan information provided to clients/plan participants.
Topics included in this study guide include:
- Definition of qualified and nonqualified plans
- Basic features of qualified and nonqualified plans
- The difference between defined benefit and defined contribution plans
- Advantages of each plan to employers and employees
- The rules governing qualified plans, including:
- Eligibility and contribution limitations
- Payment options at retirement
- The rules governing distributions, plans for individuals (IRAs) and the self-employed
- Social Security
Presents a well-developed retirement income planning process that will help you help clients/plan participants shift from retirement accumulation planning to retirement distribution planning.
CRC®4 presents a well-developed retirement income planning process that will help you help clients/plan participants shift from retirement accumulation planning to retirement distribution planning. In this course you will study InFRE’s unique retirement income management content. A primary focus is on how to use a process to help clients/plan participants evaluate and manage the four primary retirement risks when creating a retirement income plan that will last a lifetime. You will also gain an understanding of how to identify and address options for filling planning gaps and how convert retirement resources into income.
Topics included in this study guide include:
- Retirement accumulation model
- Retirement income management model
- Determining client retirement income and expense gaps
- Managing retirement risks
- Identification of client tax and estate planning issues and opportunities
- Converting resources into income
Provides the finishing touches for becoming a true retirement “counselor” in every sense of the word by exploring how to communicate with various personality types and deliver educational content using a variety of media.
This course will help you become a true retirement counselor in every sense of the word by teaching how to communicate with various personality types and provide educational content using a variety of media. Helping employees/clients understand when and how to work with other retirement professionals is part of being a counselor.
CRC® 5 also includes the CRC® Code of Ethics which must be well understood and applied by all CRC® Certificants.
Topics include:
- defining characteristics of todays generations
- communication styles
- gender considerations
- basic processes in counseling
- nonverbal communication
- effective inquiry
- education
- advice
- learning stages and styles
- common communication and education tools
- ethics
- fiduciary responsibilities
- working with other professionals